Agenda and minutes

To receive Declarations of Interest from Members on items included on this agenda

There were no declarations of interest stated.

Resolved:                 That the minutes of the meeting held on 10 October 2016 be agreed as a correct record.

The Chair invited Jonathon Connolly from the Office of the Crime Commissioner to explain the background and objectives of the scheme.

Members of the Committee wished to compare the objectives of the scheme with specific evidence to see how well they had been met.

Jonathon Connolly explained that the Space programme, launched in 2015 by Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner provided positive activities for young people across Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent.  It had the aims of increasing their skills and to improve health and wellbeing, creating opportunities for young people aged 11 to 17 to take part in activities to help make communities safer.  This included increasing the number of people engaged in diversionary activities to help reduce anti-social behaviour and crime and increase volunteering.

Budget allocation was based on localised partner agency need and dialogue and had been funded by the PCC in the amount of £12,053.76.

The Head of Leisure and Culture circulated a GIS mapped analysis of the postcode count for both the 500 young people taking up the universal offer and the 50 young people from the targeted wards  Information was also circulated on the frequency of visit by the 50 young people from targeted wards.

Members asked questions on the following topics:-

·        Transport to the scheme

·        How the targeted groups were motivated to take part in the scheme

·        Possibility of sharing equipment, staffing and facilities with the Stoke on Trent City Council SPACE Project.

Jonathon Connolly explained that Stoke on Trent City Council were at capacity in terms of staffing to deliver the scheme and that early planning of activities would be helpful.

Jonathon Connolly advised that future projects built on existing provision which was already familiar to the young people or that taster sessions were held for the young people prior to the start of the SPACE  scheme.

In response to a member question Jonathon Connolly explained that the use of school facilities had been explored but this had tended to be rather hit and miss provision in practice. 

It was agreed that a list of venues would provide a valuable future reference resource. (Head of Leisure and Culture agreed to draw this up).

At present, there was no real evidence to support the aim of a reduction in anti-social behaviour. The Head of Leisure and Culture agreed that there was potential for a social research project to be commissioned and would look into potential funding for such a project to be undertaken by one of the universities and that the idea would be further explored by the Staffordshire Leisure and Cultural Officers Forum.

A member commented that not all youngsters were keen on sport and Jonathon Connolly explained that the Local Authorities had been provided with a guidance document which stated that SPACE was keen to deliver a mix of activities and he gave an example of a visit to a theatre.

Agreed:         That a meeting be arranged during February to examine the framework of the SPACE scheme.

The Head of Leisure and Culture presented this report and set out the strategy by which the Council and its partners will seek to support more people becoming more active more often and to help address inequalities in health and wellbeing by targeting specific groups or specific areas to become more active.

A Member pointed out that urban design such as the availability of seating and toilets had an impact on how active certain groups such as older people were within the community.

It was also noted that the strategy had a focus on sports rather than that of an active lifestyle which included walking paths and cycle tracks.

The Head of Leisure and Culture acknowledged that the emphasis of the strategy was on built facilities.

With regard to the suggested consultation questions it was agreed that the Head of Leisure and Culture would circulate these by email to all members for approval or otherwise. A final set of questions would be circulated to all members for these to be addressed on an individual member basis.

Any member of the public wishing to submit a question must serve two clear days’ notice, in writing, of any such question to the Borough Council.

There were no members of the public present at the meeting.

There was no Urgent Business.

It was agreed that a February meeting date would be sought to examine progress in respect of the development of the SPACE scheme.